The Blue Gardenia (1953)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Vera Caspary (story)
Charles Hoffman (writer)

Release Date:

23 March 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Nora is a pretty telephone operator engaged to a soldier overseas. On her birthday, she gets a Dear John letter from him...

Plot Keywords:

Letter | Birthday | Newspaper | Telephone Operator | Telephone

Cast

Anne Baxter	...	Norah Larkin
Richard Conte	...	Casey Mayo
Ann Sothern	...	Crystal Carpenter
Raymond Burr	...	Harry Prebble
Jeff Donnell	...	Sally Ellis
Richard Erdman	...	Al
George Reeves	...	Police Capt. Sam Haynes
Ruth Storey	...	Rose Miller
Ray Walker	...	Homer
Nat 'King' Cole	...	Himself

Runtime:

Germany:88 min | USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Norway:16 | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #16317) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Blue Gardenia Productions

Trivia:

While the record album of the "Tristan and Isolde" music is never shown close enough to the camera for the movie audience to see it, it either is, or has been created to resemble, a typical 78-RPM album set of the 1940's of an RCA Victor recording featuring Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The cover art greatly resembles that of a 78-RPM album pressing featuring Toscanini conducting that orchestra. Toscanini was considered the greatest conductor of that era.

Goofs:

Factual errors: It is stated that the record on the turntable was still playing when the body was discovered. This would not have happened because the turntable is a 'record changer' that automatically shuts off when the control arm is engaged and there are no more records in the stack. In the flashback sequence, Harry Prebble is shown activating the control arm. If it had been left disengaged (up and to the side) it would have played the record continuously as mentioned.

Quotes:

Casey Mayo: [on the phone] If you want your picture on the paper, you'll have to go out and kill somebody first.

Soundtrack:

Blue Gardenia

Raymond Burr, Horndog

Was expecting more from the list of credits, including Fritz Lang as Director and from a story by Vera Caspary, who wrote "Laura". Also Anne Baxter, who had an Oscar and a nomination to her credit. Ann Sothern was her sassy self and Raymond Burr was an excellent heavy. In retrospect, he would be an unlikely candidate for his role if the picture were made today, as his homosexuality would have made him an unlikely "lounge lizard", the lounge being 'The Blue Gardenia'.

One of the highlights was the great Nat 'King' Cole singing the title song. The solid but uncharismatic Richard Conte was miscast as the reporter looking for a scoop.

A disappointing effort all around from a film that starts out strong but falls flat with a contrived ending. A pseudo-film noir, it is more of a melodrama and a routine one at that.